Archive for category: Blog

I was working with someone this week who told me that we should do a podcast on humour…”for Gods sake why is everyone so miserable?”

There is a time in the madness of the world when I guess all that you can do is laugh. At this time it can be easy to feel that there is nothing good happening in the world. We have wars and rumours of wars, Brexit, the antics of Trump and the ego stretching of Putin, a collapsing NHS and a confidence vote on Theresa May and a potential Boris in number 10. The time to make a joke and have a laugh I think.

When did you last have a belly laugh?

Humour

This is a natural human emotion that is shared by all peoples in all parts of the world. Humour is often an emotional release typified by the fact that as a response to laughter our brain secretes happy hormones that will make us feel good. In many situations humour has a stress management function which allows for the release of tension. In some areas that are particularly stressful such as operating theatres, accident and emergency departments and ambulance or police response teams the humour may become very dark. If this humour is heard by people outside of the ‘group’, it may well be experienced as offensive, yet its function for those within the group is vital, it enables them to function.

Laughter as therapy

Laughter is therapeutic it can make the intolerable tolerable and it can defuse the unjustifiable. When we are mindful we live in the moment, in the present, not allowing ourselves to be distracted by the depressive past or the anxious future. When we laugh, we laugh in the moment not the past and not the future. To laugh is to be mindful and to laugh with others is joyful.

Laughter may be the best medicine

Laughter will reduce the levels of stress hormone in our body. It enhances and increases the immune cells and the immune response, developing powerful infection fighting antibodies. It improves our resistance to disease and stress related illness. Laughter also has a direst effect on the brain as it releases more endorphins that increase our sense of happiness and wellbeing. These endorphins can also have an effect on our experience of pain and lessen its effect. Laughter is a very powerful medicine.

Stress reduction

Sigmund Freud, the father of Psychoanalysis, described humour as a release of tension and psychic energy. This would suggest that we can laugh at, or find funny, what is going on in our head and not necessarily what is going on around us. We might see someone simply walking down the street and laughing at something going on in their head. When I worked in psychiatry I would often see a patient chuckling away in the corner and just letting it out, managing the stress.

Infectious laughter

Laughter workshops are weird. You arrive not feeling at all funny. You might even be feeling a bit miserable. You meet a group of people, complete strangers and the course leader begins to laugh. At first it seem ridiculous. Then you have a go. Just a little laugh. Suddenly you are off laughing so that the tears are rolling down your face. Not sure what you are laughing at or why you are laughing. Just to look into the eyes of a fellow participant who is laughing is enough to set you off again. Laughter is infectious.

The comedy club

It can be the same when you go to a comedy show. In research, if the blood of people entering the show is taken and the levels of stress hormone and happy hormone measured and recorded and then the same is done when they leave we find that after the show peoples stress hormone are decreased and the happy hormones have increased.

In her book ‘The Secret’ Rhonda Byrne describes a lady who was given a terminal diagnosis. She went home and watched every video she could that would make her laugh. She claims that she laughed her way back to full health. I am unsure or the veracity of this claim though I am sure it would of improved her chances of survival and recovery.

Humour in unexpected places

Some of the funniest times I have had have been in hospices, often with people who were dying. In these situations humour and laughter is a tremendous stress reliever. I have also been at a funeral when a relative became hysterical with laughter which was infectious to some but greatly offended others. She was simply relieving her stress in that situation. And humour in a disaster situation has often saved the day. Once we see that laughter and tears are both ways of dealing with stress it can make a bit more sense.

Finally, laughter is a good thing and we should do more of it. To be able to laugh, lovingly, at yourself and your fellow human beings is a gift. However in you humour be kind and mindful and try not to offend others.

Take care and be happy and keep laughing

Sean x

In the podcast this week Ed and I got talking about the power of music and amazing effect that it can have on us and on all other living beings including plants. That got me thinking about my own musical life and my own studies of guitar, cello and Sitar and the work that we did, back along, with healing and using the musical forms of Indian music known as the Ragas. That set me off into memories of meditations and chanting, mantras and prayers. So, here goes…

The whole of creation is a vibrating sea of energy. At times that energy forms into what we see as matter. Rather like the difference. between steam and ice, the same thing but vibrating at a different frequency. The molecules in ice vibrate very slowly. When we apply energy, in the form of heat, the rate of vibration increases and the ice becomes liquid. If we apply more energy the liquid becomes steam. If we continue to apply ever more energy the molecules split apart in their base component of hydrogen and oxygen – H2O – the formula of water.

In the beginning was vibration

The biblical gospel of St John starts with this phrase…

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.”

For me God, in this phrase, is all of creation and all universal energy.

The word ‘Word’ when translated from the Aramaic, the language of the Bible, and taken back to its roots in classical Sanskrit, we find that what we are saying is that,

in the beginning the word was the given vibration

And that the given vibration resonates with all universal energy

The given energy is all universal energy

The given vibration is Om or Aum that is used as a mantra in many religions. In Ayurveda and Yoga it is Om, in Buddhism it is Aum, In Christianity it is Amen. In other faiths you will hear the same word expressed as Amin and Ahmeen.

This is the symbol, or Sanskrit letter that denote Om. It is a pictogram that tells its own story. 

The top right are the symbols for the sun and the moon that we might describe as consciousness and unconsciousness. These may also be described as Yin and Yang or Purusa and Prakriti, and so on.

It is the interaction between consciousness and unconsciousness that gives rise to the phenomenal world of thinking feeling and doing. These are denoted by the three prongs of the Om letter facing to the left. This aspect of three is seen in all things there are no exception though sometimes we cannot, without a little work and research, find them.

In western psychology they are Cognition, Affection and Behaviour, In Yogic philosophy these are known as the Gunas (or strings) that create all things. They are termed Sattvia, Rajasia and Tamsia. In Ayurveda they are the three Doshas of Vatta, Pitta and Kalph. In body language they are the three body types of Ectomorph, Mesomorph and Endomorph. In colour they are the three primary colours of Red, Yellow and Blue. In electricity they are Volts, Ohms and Watts. In music if they are the three notes of the Major and Minor Tryads or the Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant of the scale. In Quantum physics as the Quarks Love, Strangeness and Charm. In Christianity it is Father, Son, Holy Ghost. In astrology they Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. They are in all things.

When we listen to music we like it or dislike it. When we like music it is because it resonates with us and we are in harmony with it. When we dislike music it does not resonate with us and we are not in harmony with it. Because, well if the systems are the same we can use the same language to describe the interactions of energy.

In our relationships we like or dislike people. We might feel ‘in tune’ with someone or we may feel someone to be ‘out of tune, out of time or out of step’ with what is going on. When we are well our system is well tuned and when we are sick our system is disharmonious and out of tune.

Musical notes clash, colours clash, and people clash. In all of creation, in this sea of vibrating energy, we can be in tune or out of tune with life and experience. However there are ways that we, as individuals, can tune in, it is called Mindfulness. When we become mindful and sensitive to the vibrations within and around us we can chose how we associate, who we associate with and what we do with our own source of energy that is our life.

Living in harmony is happiness. Living in disharmony is miserable.

Be happy and be in tune.

Take care

Sean x

 

 

 

 

Change is like time, our experience of it depends on the point from which we view it.

We could say that the only thing that we can be certain of in life is that all things change, that nothing ever stays the same. We could say that one of our biggest problems is that we have to deal with the stress of change often when are forced to undergo it. We might even think that change is a fabulous stimulant and that we all need more of it, that lack of change creates boredom that paralysis the brain.

Or, perhaps we might crave to maintain the status quo and the stability of a fixed system, universe or society, where we all know where we stand, where life is predictable and there are no surprises.

Change is a strange and challenging thing.

Physical change

We know that out entire body is always changing. Every seven years we renew all the cells in or body, so that, every seven years our body is completely new. Some parts of out body are changing much quicker. The receptors in our eyes that interpret what we send and send messages to the brain function through the rods and cones of the retina as the pigments and chemical respond to the light. Many times a second the receptors are activated and then reactivated as we track the moving images around us. The body is a good indicator of change.

There is a neat trick that we call ageing. Each cell has a string on it called a telomere. As each cell reproduces the telomere becomes shorter until in the end it runs out and the reproduction ceases. This is called getting old.

Social change

This happens generation on generation as values, beliefs, ideas and even fashions change from one generation to the next. As the social compass moves we find that behaviours unacceptable a generation ago are now common place. We might change laws so that, for example, gayness that a generation ago was illegal is now celebrated. Sometimes it is the reverse as we look in horror at the behaviour of previous generations. Slavery and bear baiting are now illegal.

Intellectual change

This is driven by the intellectual thinkers. Often it is this intellectual part of human consciousness that is the precursor of social change. The intellect questions the existing order and continually asks ‘Why?’ It challenges conventions, laws and rules and demands that we look a new at who we are and what we are doing.

Emotional change

Emotional change is demanding, passionate and immediate “I want it all and I want it now”. It maybe the maternal drive that seeks to protect the family or the possessive drive that becomes attached to people and things. Change at this level is often acquisition, “I want more” and the more might be possessions, power, money or even people. Overall emotional change is about adapting the world so that ‘My’ needs are met be they driven by business of dictatorship.

Conceptual change

The key to conceptual change is that often it does not want to change at all. When it does change it happens slowly, sometimes very slowly. It may be seen is eras or epochs. Here we are looking at dynasties, and systems of control that last for many years. The ruling Empires that peak and decay as the order changes. We now see the European Global Empires coming to a close as the era of European domination comes to an end. The new era will probably belong to China, India and the Pacific Basin. In a couple of hundred years the common global language will probably have moved from English to be something like Cantonese or Mandarin.

Meaningful change

This is the sensitive realm of the intuition that drives conception or the way that we see things. A conceptual era is often driven by the understanding of spiritual philosophy. It is seen in terms of the question ‘why are we here?’ and ‘what is the meaning of life?’ These answers change and as we human beings change and, hopefully, evolve.

The Icons that change behaviour

Our leaders both spiritual and political are engaged in creating change. At anyone time in any society there will be the icon figures that people look up to for inspiration and guidance. They may be dictators such as Hitler, scientists such as Einstein, spiritual leaders or social engineers.

The Christian Era that began two thousand years ago, that peaked at a point where virtually everyone in Europe attended Church services, it has now peaked and declined so that now less than 5% of the population of the UK regularly follow church services. It is thought that the values of the Christian traditions are now being superseded by Buddhist traditions with a rise in meditation and mindfulness, vegetarianism and veganism.

Personal Change

Beyond all that is you, your change. What do you need to do to get your life online so that it works well for you. Is it that you need to maintain your status quo or do you need to embrace change to stimulate you energy? The most important thing is to act with awareness. Maintain what serves you well and change what does not serve you well.

Positive change leads to positive results and negative change leads to negative outcomes.

Be happy and become the change that you would like to see in others.

Sean x

 

 

 

 

 

The 13^th November was national kindness day. While I completely agree with they need for us all to be kinder to each other I am always surprised that we might need an annual day to remind us to do it. Surely in a well balanced society we would do this as naturally as breathing. It probably has to do with the lack of wellbeing in my own childhood but I have seen much of life’s work as promoting how we can best serve each other. Along with all the other sayings that I find myself repeating is…

…if we all look after each other we all be okay…

I know that, in life, difficult things happen. However, if we all pull together and look after each other the negative effects can be minimised and the healing maximised. When there are floods, famines, droughts and disasters we can all help in our own way, however small we can, collectively, have a positive effect. The world may not be perfect but we could create heaven on Earth. To do this requires an amount of awareness and mindfulness and a sense of personal responsibility.

We can’t just leave it to ‘them’

There is no ‘them’ – ‘they wouldn’t let that happen would they?’ ‘they will make it alright won’t they?’ It is only when we realise that there is no ‘them’ there is only ‘us’ that the world will begin to change. We have to stop expecting the local council or the government to clean up the streets. We need to start picking up the litter ourselves or maybe not drop it in the first place.

We are all ‘us’.

We are all one race, the Human Race. Strangers are just family that we have yet to get to know. Because there is only one race, only one creation, when we cause harm to anyone or anything we are really just causing harm to ourself.

Charity begins at home

Because this is always true, we only harm ourself, it really helps if we can treat ourselves well with self-compassion and self love. It is then that we develop the inner resources to treat others with compassion and love as well.

Charity may begin at home but it does not have to end there. When we can see all of creation as ourself we might just begin to treat creation with the respect that it deserves.

Take care and be kind and happy

Sean x

Winter hit in hard this week. On Monday it got to minus one and I was scraping the ice from the car windscreen. This winter feeling and the cold got me thinking about the coming ‘All Hallows’ eve or what we now term Halloween. For something to be Hallowed it was made sacred though also has the tinge of respect and reverence.

Halloween originates from Druidic Celtic pagan festival that was, at that time, the New Year. So, October 31^st was New Years Eve and November 1^st New Years Day. It was the end of the summer and the beginning of winter. The harvest had been gathered in and, hopefully, the barns were full. It was the end of the year, a time to look back at all that had been and then embrace the new year and what was to come.

The belief was that at this time between the year ending and the new year beginning the veil between the two worlds of the living and the dead became very thin. At this time the spirits of the dead could pass over back into the physical world.

This was both good and bad as it became a time to remember those that had died enabling them to live on in the hearts of the living. The sense of ancestor worship and belonging to ancient lineage came to the for. People visited the hallowed places to welcome those that had gone before. The festival that took people to visit the hallowed places became Halloween and eventually All Hallows Day.

It was also believed that evil or mischievous spirits could also pass into our world of the living. To keep the evils spirits at bay people would light wills, or bundles of reeds, to use as torches to lighten the darkness. The wills dancing over the fields and marshes became known as ‘Willo the wisp’. This was often seen as a negative symbol because wherever and whenever the wills were seen in the darkness evil must be present. Later Willo the wisps was thought to be evil spirits attempting to trick people into fall into bogs and rivers.

Another form of Will was the Jack o Lantern, were turnips that had been hollowed out and lit. The Irish Celts took this idea to the USA where the Turnip was swapped for a pumpkin which, in turn came back over the UK and Ireland.

The origins of giving gifts, as in Trick or Treat, in the form of foods or sweets, was to pacify the spirits and avoid any harm that they might do.

This Pagan festival was hijacked by the Christian church and the Hallows festival became All Saints Day and All Souls’ Day. This was to honour or Hallow, all those people gone before who were saintly and also all those who had died fully baptised and shriven.

In some traditions it also became a time when prays were offered for those who had died unbaptised and not shriven to give them a chance to rest at peace.

In the Pagan system the proceedings would have been overseen by a witch. In Old English the word ‘Witch’ simply meant ‘wise woman’. Many of these wise women where the healers, doctors and midwives of their time. It was the Christian church that turned the herb law of Witches into an evil and demonic thing. In pagan times wise women where revered and hallowed. In Christian times they were burned at the stake. I notice that even J. K. Rowling referred the ‘Deathly Hallows’ in the Harry Potter Series.

So, how about in the midst of this festival of Hallows we all take some time to stop for a minute and acknowledge our loved ones who have died. So that between the drinks, snacks, tricks and treats we connect once again with the original idea around Halloween. 

Take care

Sean x